Vehicle wheel



C. S. A-SH VEHICLEWHEEL Sept. 13, 1932..

2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed July 9, 1927 Sept. 13, 1932. Q s ASH I 1,877,379

VEHICLE WHEEL File y 9, 192'? 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 w, WW"

allow nu;

Patented Sept. 13, 1932 CORPORATION, or nmnorr,"mrornean, A coaroaarron or NEW YOR VEHICLE WHEEL Application filed July 9, 1927; Serial No. 204,544.

This invention relates to vehicle wheels.

of the wire spoke,. suspension type and method of making same, and an objector the invention is to facilitate manufacture 5 and secure even spoke tension by the weld} ing of the spokes in place, and toproduce a wheel the construction of which is such. as

to particularly adapt the same to assembly by a welding process, thus producing a wheel D which is cheap to manufacture, 811C113 Very strong and rigid, yet simple in construction. A further object is to ,provide a wire wheel which is light in weight and may be readily applied to any ofthe several forms of hub constructions commonly employed, and may be quickly and easily demounted therefrom.

It is also an object to provide a spoke arrangement whereby the spokes may be weld-i ed to the wheel hub or mounting member in a manner to obviate welding defects and. to

facilitate the welding operation, and, fur- I lar to thatof Fig. 4 and lllustratlngmodlfither, to facilitate the weldingif desired, of the outer ends of'the spokes to'the wheel rim. It is also an object ofthe invention to. fa= cilitate the assembly and the mounting of the wheel, byproviding an annular wheel hub or mounting member to which the inner ends of the spokes of one row are attached in opposed relation to the inner ends of the spokes of another row-by welding each pair of opposed spoke ends together and to said member by a single weld, said rows of spokes having a common .plane of attachment to said member and diverging outwardly there-. from. Other objects are toprovide awheel hub or mounting member of annular form adapted to be accurately centered upon and to be secured to the hub proper by a series of bolts and in such a manner as to securely hold the same in place and make the wheel readily demountable. and to provide certain other new and useful features in the. construction and arrangement of parts, all as hereinafter more fully described.

With the above and other ends in view, the invention consists in the matters hereinafter set forth and more particularly pointed out in the appended claims, reference being bad to the accompanying drawingsin.

whichof Figs. 1a .fica-tion. i

Asshowmin Fig. 1, a hubl of any suitable 7 CHARLES s. Asa, OFBIRMINGHAM, MICHIGAN, AssIGNon'ro KELsEr-HArEs Figure 1' is a longitudinal verticalsection;

mounted thereon, said wheel being illustrative of an embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of alportion of Fig. 1; A l

through the upper half of a hub and. Wheel Figs. 3 and4 aresectional details'illustrating the methgd of assembling and; securing the spokes in place; v Figs. 5 and 6 are longitudinal and transverse sectional 1 detailslshowing a modified construction and method of assembly; I

, Fig. 7 is a sectional detail illustrative the manner. in which the" outerends of spokes .maybe connected to a wheel rim;

Fig. 8 is a view similarto that ofJFigJlv showing a modified construction; 7 i

Fig. 9 is aseetional detail showing a media a fication in the attachment of the outer endsof the spokes to the rim; .9

Figs. 10 and 11 are sectional details simications in the manner of welding theinner ends of spokes to an annular wheel mounting member; 7

fied form of annular wheel mounting member and spoke connectionthereto; and i Fig. 13 is a. sectional view similar toth'at' nd 8 and showing a'further modi form and construction is providedwith a radial flange Q to which the usual brake drum 3 isj'secured. The wheel proper, comprises a run 4 of anysuitable cross-sect1onalconfiguration having side flanges 5, an annularhub or mounting member 6, and two series 7 and 8 of wire spokes or the like'conneoting said rim and member, which member is formed, preferably, with an outwardly extending radialfflange or peripheral portion 9formed with a series of holes- 10 to receive the laterally bent inner ends 11 of" sa1'dspo'kes 'as- 5 shown in Fig. 3. A spoke 7 of the outer row of spokes is arranged with its inner end in opposed l r of a spol e 8 of the inner row,-within one of the openings 10 and these abutting ends are connected and firmly secured within said abutting relation to theinnerend j nular hub member 6 and rim 4 are held'exopening by a welding operation, electrodes indicated at 12 in Fig. 4 being placed against the outer sides of the bends of the spokes to heat said ends and by pressure, forcing said ends into close contact within the opening in the flange 9, the heat and pressure applied causing said abutting ends to weld together and at the same time expand within the opening, fllling'the same and effecting a welded connection between said end portions and said flange within the opening. A very strong weldand connection is thus secured between the inner ends of each pair of spokes rigidity is secured through the simultaneous filling up of the hole by the expansion of the spoke ends and the welding of these ends to the flange Within said hole. I

In the assembling of the wheel, the anactly concentric, with the rim preferably compressed radially, so thatwhen rim and .hub member are connected by the spokes, the

wheel will be perfectly round and true. While so held, the inner ends of the spokes may be welded to the hub member as described and the outer ends of the spokes will be secured to the rim either by providing heads on the spokes as shown in Fig. 7, or by welding or otherwise, so that. when the spokes have cooled and the'wheel is released, the expansion of the rim which has been held under compression and the movement of theinnerends of the spokes toward each other caused by the force applied thereto by the electrodesin welding, willplace'said spokesunder even tension and give a .substantially perfect suspension Wheel. In this method of assembly a butt weldingoperation is thus employed, which operatlonat the same time effects a tensioning of the spokes.

Another arrangement of spokes employing substantially the same butt welding operation and method of attaching the spokesto the mounting member, is shown in Figs. 5 andp6. In this arrangement straight spokes are employed, the innerends of the spokes being inserted through suitable openings in a horizontal portion 9a of the mounting or ring member 6a, each spoke being inserted I through a separate hole formed to permit the straight spoketo extend tangentially of the member and with the inner end of a spoke 7a in one row abutting the inner end of a spoke 8a in the other row and with the spokes of each pair diverging outwardly and laterally of the wheel. By applying movable electrodes to the free abutting ends of the spokes,

substantially as hereinbet'ore described, these ends are butt welded and attached to the mounting member.

If found desirable the side flanges 5 of the rim may be formed with a series of tapered holes 13 to receive thelaterally bent outer end portions of thespokes which ends may be provided with heads as shown in Fig. 7 to seat within seats provided by the openings after said spokes have been threaded through said openings, or these heads may be formed upon the laterally bent ends of the spokes by i the application thereto of suitably shaped electrodes similar to the electrodes 12 which are forced toward each other as the s oke ends are electrically heated and thus orm I. the heads 14 within the openings, said heads and bent end portions being welded to the rim simultaneously with the forming of the heads if so desired, to securely and'rigidly attach the outer ends of the spokes to the rim The annular hub or mounting memberfl may be formed 'of sheet metal as shown in Fig. 1 and shaped to seat'across the angle bef tween the body of the hub 1 and its flange 2,

said ring member having an inturned inner mounting the wheel and to seat upon a cylinalso formed with a reverse bend just inward- 1y from its peripheral flange 9 to forma shoulder 16 adapted to seat against the outer surface of thedrum wall 3 which is-secured against'the outer side of the flange 2 of'the hub'.-- Between the seating portion 15 and shoulder 16, the ring is formed with a series of seats 17 providedwith openings for bolts 18,.the heads of which seat upon said seats and the screwthreaded endsof which are screwed into screwthreaded openings in the,

hol wheel-demountably in position.

In this construction, the wire spokes are all secured to a single hub ring or annularmounting member 6in a common plane, that flancge v2 to firmly, rigidly and detachablyf the ring to its seats on the hub and the 1 J10 is, to'a single outwardly extending flange and diverge outwardly from said flange' and extend tangentially to their places of attachment to the rim thus providing a demountable wheel structure which is narrow in the I direction of the hub axis, and which, by the divergency of the-spokes provides strong lateral bracing at the rim with a minimum rise.

of space required adjacent the hub. In other words, the entire demountable structure lies between the planes of the side flanges of the rim, and this lateral bracing is further increased by attaching the outer ends of the.

spokes to the sidefianges 5 of the rim outside of the channel portion of the rim. Further,

the offsetting of the rim in either directionrelative to the mounting member, may be readily secured byv offsetting the flange 9 inwardly toward or over the drum as shown in" Fig.8, or outwardly as shown in'Fig. 1i.

Asshown in Fig.8, the wheel rim 4 is ofl'set lahy the form of the ring" or annular hub member 19, the outer portion of which member is formed or curvedlaterinwardly of the hub ally. to bring its outstanding flangetoiwhich the spokes are att ached, nearer the inner end ofthe hubythe drum wall'3 being curved" laterally to 7 provide for mounting said ring upon the cylindrical portion of the hubad5 outercnds to the rim, preferably adjacent the center line of the rim. The peripheral flange or edge portion 9 of the ring or shell 19 is formed with a series of openings each of which is tapered inwardly from its ends as more clearly shown in Fig. 10, so that when said spoke ends are inserted therein with their end surfaces in abutting relation and then heated by an electric current in the manner described, said end portions will be expanded, filling the seats and be Welded therein, the pressure applied by the electrodes expanding said end ing said spoke ends toward each other and toward the sides of the flange, thus shortening the spokes to further increase their tension when the assembled wheel is released from its clamping means after assembly. In

the construction illustrated in Fig. 11, in-

stead of holes being formed in the flange,

said flange may be provided with depressions and the ends of the spokes may be pointed as at 20a to engage these depressions and be welded therein in the manner described.

In this construction shown in Fig. 8 the outer ends of the spokes are shown as welded to the rim inwardly of its side flanges but they may be welded tion of these flanges within the channels formed thereby, as shown in Fig. 9, or as shown in Fig. 13, the spokes may be provided with screwthreaded and:. headed nipples 21 seated within depressions inthe bottom wall a 'of the rim as is the usual practicein building wire wheels, so that by turning these nipples, the spokes can be put under tension, thus connecting the outer ends of the spokes to the rim without Welding them thereto. Y

The individual spokes of bothrows may be separately connected to an inner or hub mounting ring member 23, as shown in Fig. 13, by forming tapered holes 24 in the radial flange 25 of this member, inserting the laterally bent end of each spoke in one of these formed to serve be extended outwardly of thehub in a third row of spokes said spokes being welded or otherwiseportions and at the same time movto the extreme outer por struct on 1s such v varioushuh construct ons by a simple change I holes and then applying theelsctrodes- Ias before, to heat said end and pressure ex thesame to the flange Within saidopeningf Assho'wn, the ring member23 may have a thickened body. portion inwardly of its pe':

within an annular: seat ripheral flange to fit v therefor formed by'curving the wall ofjthe brake drum 26 as at 27,,which wall inth s ings are" provided in the ring pand saidend' within the opening and jweld construction is continued outwardly Tand 75 as a hub casing 28." Open bolts 29 for detachably securingthe 1 ring to its seatand holding the whe el'lmounted on the hubtf i in "Fig. 12 wherein the inner or hublring.

. i A" further i'nodified coi'istruc'tion shown,

member 30 of. the' wheel is formed with an inner edgeflange 31 to'seatupon' a-shoulden I the hub properadja- 32 formedon a. wallet cent the radial flange 2 thereof towhich the brake drum wan 3 issecured, andthis ring 30] has i "a radial peripheral flange "33 formed with openingsthrough which the, spokesare e threaded, said spokes being provided with q heads 34m seat in said openings, said flange being spaced from th'e'drum wall by anannular bendin the ring wall, forminga shoulder 35 to'cngage said drum wall. annular shoulder 35 and inner section andformed with openings'to receive holding the curved por-j verge inwardly to substantially Between said I flangel 3l, the wall of the ring is curved transversely in cross In this construction where all spokes con-l a. single I bolts 36 for securing the ring against its seats wall through whi h the bolts tension on these bolts to hold plane of attachment to the mounting member i with this plane of attachmentl located substantially in the plane offthe center line of the rim,;all spokes are'of the same length, insuring even strain, \andwhen securedin the sp okesis not disturbed and the wheel has its maximum of as tobe rea ily adaptable to strength. Further, this conin theform of the mounting member to move the tread plane o desired extent,

of manufacture f-thewheel inwardly toany r as in the. plane oi. the drum or steering knuckle and the cost substitutionof'the ring mounting for-a complete' hub shell, Which where spokes, diverge Spokes of large cross-sectional area'are prefshell ,is' necessary toward themhub. I

le qin' the presentconstruction, and-a lesser number-,of spokes is necessary, thus further rednci gthe cost and accidental in i ury to the spokes isreduced to a minimum as they do not project outwardly of thejwhe'el 11c n the wheelqis; J place on the hub, this tension of A 120 is greatly reduced .bywthe-" toward the hub, but all lie withinthe plane I of the rim.

.Other modifications in the construction to suit the form of the hub upon which the wheel is to be mounted may be made within the scope of the appended claims without departing from the spirit of the invention and such changes arecontemplated. Having thus fully described my invention,

1." A spoked vehicle wheel having a .rim member, a hub mounting member and spokes connecting said rim and hub mounting membe'rs, said hub mounting member haying I transverse openings therethrough and said spokes being arranged in pairs with the claim 7, wherein the enlarged inner ends of connecting said hub mounting and rim members, one. of said members having spoke re- CGIVlIlg; openlngs therethrough and said spokes extending within said openings and being arranged in sets, the spokes of each set 70 having enlarged ends rigidly connected to each other at said openings.

"8. .A spoked- 'ehicle wheel as claimed in the spokes are formed as spaced opposed '75 shoulders fixedly securing said spokes to'said hub mounting member at saidopenings.

Intestimonywhereof I afiix my signature.

inner'ends of each pair of spokes within an opening J nsaid hub mounting memberand rigidly connected ,to' each hub n1ounting member.-

, 2. A spokedl vehicle wheel having a rim member, an annular hub mountmg member provided ;W1tll transverse openings, spokes arranged; in two rows. connecting. the. rim and hub mounting members with the inner ends of the spokes of one row opposite the other and to saidinner'en'dsofthe spokes of the other row and I the inner ends within andfilling the openingsand fused together and to said hub mounti ng member. H

'3; A spoked vehicle wheel having a' hub mounting member, a rim memberand spokes connecting said hub mounting and ri1n,members, said hub mounting member having spoke receiving openings therethrough and saidspokes extending within said openings and' being arrangedin sets,the spokes of each set having enlarged inner ends rigidly connected to each other.

4'0 4. A spoked vehicle wheel having afrim \member; a hub mounting member, andx spokes'connecting said rim and hub mount-1 'ing members, said hub mounting member havlng spoke receiving openings therethrough and said spokes being. arrangedin g V 'anged in pairs with the spokes of each pair whixedlysecured toieach other within oneof the saidopenings and together having spaced opposed *shoulders "fixedly securing said spokesto said hub mounting member.

6."A spoked vehicle wheel as claimed in claim"3,-, wherein the enlarged inner ends of p the spokes are formed as spaced opposed shoulders fixedly securing said spokes to said hub mopntingmember at said openings,

7. A; poked vehiclewheel having a hub mounting member, a rim member, and spokes CHARLES s. ASH. V 

